On Palate Press: Playing with yeasts isn’t quite science (yet)

My January column at Palate Press gives some thought to how new, non-Saccharomyces winemaking yeasts (and new combinations of those yeasts) are like faux “antique” furniture: achieve that natural look, but without all the time and risk of a spontaneous fermentation (or actually letting your farm table be beaten up by generations of rambunctious youngsters). While some very nice microbiology is exploring what minor-player yeasts can do, actually using them — and predicting the results — is still as much (or more) art as it is science. Find it here.